Memeorandum

March 11, 2019

Run Beto Run!

His fans compare him to Mr. Obama or the Kennedys — a font of rangy inspiration — rarely dwelling on his record. But Mr. O’Rourke would enter the race without a signal achievement over six years as an El Paso congressman, nor an obvious big-ticket policy idea that might animate his bid.

So not just Kennedyesque, Obamaesque?

In public settings of late, Mr. O’Rourke has placed immigration, education and especially climate change at the center of his remarks, which tend to focus most on a high-minded-but-vague message of uniting a divided nation.

Comments

JIB, i wanted to ask you, since you have a graduate degree obtained in the military: should my youngest daughter, graduating in June, consider getting her med degree in the Navy? the cost of med school, at $80,000 per year just for tuition, is insane.

Hell yeah, if that is an option for her. It may mean 4 more years active, and years reserve but save the bucks. I know a few who did this in the Air Force, but remember when I was in, it was the mid 60's. Today is a different deal. Funny that back in my day, you could go to any damn university you'd want to go to. I remember reviewing lots of catalogs from major universities I would order, including US Coast Guard, Harvard, MIT, etc. All hard copies. They were begging for students.

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Johns "should my youngest daughter, graduating in June, consider getting her med degree in the Navy? the cost of med school, at $80,000 per year just for tuition, is insane."

Ask me! Ask me!

Yes unless you are rolling in money. My kids' friend with the highest scores they ever heard of on the MCATs got his MD through the Navy and so did his wife. Top Docs, both.

That per year cost you mention is just the start of it too. Do that for four years and many new MDs have $200K+ in debt, not counting what they might still have from undergraduate. THEN they go into residencies where the pay (set by the Feds) might be around $50k/year pretax for 100-120 hour weeks. Good luck living where you want a daughter to live on that. Do that for say four more years and then, maybe a fellowship for two or three more at even lower pay than residents make.

Compare that ten years of debt and after tax cash from Dad dollars and slave labor "in the real world", and my two doc friends are doing just fine at Bethesda Naval. They are damn good doctors too.

I told this before: my daughter and her fiance managed to score vacations from their residencies for the same week last year and went to Italy wine country. She sent me an email that they were both thinking of giving up the doctor thing and buying a vineyard in Italy. My response was that that was nice, but she would owe me about a million bucks when I got done clawing back what Buckeye described so well above as the cost of her degree and training.

thanks all, for your help with med school. JIB, I had an experience like you, with graduate school paid for because of a perceived shortage of university teachers. How well did that work out? My daughter is very liberal in most ways. the first time i mentioned the navy, she snorted and my wife tried to kill the idea. But since then daughter has mentioned it a few times, as well as international schools.

johns: definitely have your daughter check the scholarship route. The Boy Child found a number of scholarships available his freshman year...adjusted his focus and needed requirements to qualify for those. Found one through the NIH that has paid and is still paying for his MD/PhD. He will finish with no debt...it’s possible.

The news of Pagar saddens me greatly. May he rest in eternal peace until one with the Father. But the news of Frau hits especially hard.

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RIP, frau. She was always one of my favorites here. Great sense of fun and humor to go with a sharp mind.

Posted by: jimmyk | March 12, 2019 at 11:26 AM

Agreed. I very much wanted to personally meet her and thank her for her kindness after my mother's death. Godspeed to you, Frau Ridder.

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There were so many times that I would be clubbing the PITZER PUSSY about the head neck legs and ass, and there would be FRAU, coming off the TOP ROPE with the FLYING HEAD SCISSORS.....
FOR THE WIN!!!

Posted by: GUS | March 12, 2019 at 12:56 PM

A classic comment from GUS . . . and right on the money.

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This is the saddest week I can remember at JOM, but I am also 100% convinced that all three of these marvelous people who have gone to their reward would want us to carry on just as we have always done and not be gloomy. They were all happy warriors in their own way.